HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Wingham Times, 1888-04-06, Page 5The Water NUL
Xasten to the Water mill
Through the livelong
How the clanking of the wheel's
Weave the hours away
Languidly the autumn wind
Stint the greenwood luau ;
Fronpthe fields' the reaper's sing,
Binding up the sheaves.
And a proverb haunts my mind,
Like open is oast
"Tho mill will never grind
' With the water that has passed,"
Take the lemma to thyself,
Loving hearts and true 1
Golden years are floating by,
Youth ;a passing, too ;
Learn to make the most of life,
Lon no happy day;
Time will never bringthee baez
Chances swept away.
Leave no tender word unsaid;
Love while life shall last :—
"Tha mill will never grind
With the water that has passed."
or • wile yet the daylight shines,
Man of strength and will 1
Never does the streemlet glide
Useless by the mill.
Wait not till to -morrow's sun
Beams upon the way;
All that thou must cell thine own
Lies in thy tmday.
Power, intellect, and wealth
May not always' last;
"The mill will never grind
With the water that has passed."
Ob, the wasted hours of life
That have drifted, by 1
Oh, the good we might have done.
Lost without a sigh 1
Love that once we might have saved
By a single word;
Thoughts conceived, but never penned,
Perishing unheard ;
Then take the proverb to thy heart,
Take and hold it fast ;
"The mill will never grind
With the water that has passed.'
C. F. ADAMS.
MY MODERN GRAND DAUGH-
TER.
I am an old lady,—no matter how old,—
but not infirm • and I am also old-fashioned
enough to prefer the old manners to the -
new. I never lean against the back of my
chair, nor appear at the breakfast -table in
my wrapper, and no one, except my maid,
ever sees my ourbpapers. I was " brought
up " not to take my ease in public.
But my granddaughter Ethel is very dif-
ferent. She says, "Oh, let's be comfortable,
grandma!" She has "given up "—actually
given up—wearing meats.
"They're not hygiegic, grandma." "
gienio " to a woman of my age, who never
had a headache!
" What kind of a figure do you expect to
have?" I asked, severely.
Grandma," she answered, shaking her
pretty head,—it is pretty,—" my waist
measures just three inches less than the
Venus de Medici's."
" Then all I can say is, that Miss do
Medici would have been considered a very
dumpy' young woman in my day," I an-
swered.
Ethel laughed. Times are sadly changed.
The modern young girl laughs at her grand-
mother, and does many other curious things.
She learns curious things at wheel, too.
One day she rushed home from school, her
curls all flying in the breeze.,
" Grandma," she cried, "I've learned
something wonderful to -day 1 If you should
cut your brachial artery "—
"Bot I deal intend to ,out my brachial
artery at my time of life," said 1, with some
dignity.
"But if you aliould, grandma, I could
stop the flow of bleed inetantly, and save
your life. See here I" and betore I knew
what the child was doing, she had my arm
all tied up in a knotted handkerchief, with
a broomstick twisted through one end so
tight that I thought she would amputate it
on the spot. That is a very strange sort of
knowledge to give a young girl. It don't
seem ladylike.
Then, too, she has such perfect sell -re-
liance 1 Wny, my granddaughter, Ethel
Starr Raymond, sits down sometimes and
looks into my eyes with such a level gaze,
and talks to me with such entire reliance
on the accuracy of her own views, that I
might be the school -girl and she the old
lady, for all the deference she pays to my
views. Moreover, something that happened
recently gives the child a great advantage
over me ; and as sure as I say, " Ethel, do
be a littlmore feminine 1" she has a roguish
glum in her brown eyes, and is sure to say:
"But, grandma, if 1 must be so soft and
feminine, what will you do if the man -in -
the moon' comes down again?"
I suppon I must toll the whole story.
I have been a great traveller in my day—
north, south, east and west. I haven been
to Africa yet, but thereet no telling but that
I yet may round the Cape of Good Hope.
Last autumn, when Ethel took a bad cold,
which gradually developed into bronchitis,
I thought nothing of packing up and start-
ing oft for California with her. We stopped
at a beautiful little town, situated in a val.
ley not far from San Francisco Bay, with
the soft hills of the Coast Range all around
us, and, taking a furnished house, settlea
down comfortably for the winter.
Now I have spent a great deal of time in
my life looking for somebody. It is a Man.
No matter how inconvenient it might be,
neither heat nor cold, late hews; nor early,
company nor lack of oompany, could ever
induce me to negleot the time-honored ode -
tom of looking for "that Man" isle hides
under heap, shuts himself up in closets, folds
himself up behind doors, or doubles up in
dark corners for the sole purpose of robbing
and soaring peaceful and unprotected
women.
. If all the precious hours that good women
are forced to tpend in this pursuit could be
added up, turned into dollars, and put out
at interest, I ani sure they would pay the
national debt, with something left over to
put into the bank.
Well, the house we took for our California
Winter was an old-fashioned, rambling house
that had been "brought around the Horn in
'49" in picots, and was full of hiding -places.
All around the front imil sides were wide
Verandas, shaded by groat Meseta and ever-
green trees ; then the original house bad
various additions, Wings and Ls up one atop,
' or down two, or attached by long, narrow
halls, full of dim outlines, that a lively
fancy could easily turn into the shadow of a
A stray black cat, which no persuasion In
the way of atioke and !donee *Quid induces to
retire, furnished many a nightly alarm, and
caused a more thorough nightly Beare*.
My maid slept on the same floor with us,
but the other percent's, who, After the faele,
ion of the country, Were both moon -eyed
Chinese, roomed in a smell detaohed house
at the end of aolarge, neglected garden,
beautiful with feathery locust -trees, fan
palms, great rowebushes, ono or two orange.
tree'', and beds of brilliant fiowors, which
grew with the wild luxuriance of a sezni-
tropical etiolate.
The garden was full of fragrant channel—
and full of hiding -places. I never dared
even look into it after dark.
Itt the evenings -,-it was now April—Ethel
and I usually sat on the upper veranda, and
there spent the hours, drinking in the soft,
delicious air, and feeding our eyes, if it was
moonlight, on the lovely landeoape, the val.
ley clad in the tender green of early spring.
The rounded, waving outline of the Collet
Range was 'lighted up off in the western
foot hills by the twinkling lights of a great
turreted, pinnacled structure that looked
like some beautiful mettle, transported from
a foreign land, but was, alasonly an asy-
lum for tine hasten%
One night, about ten o'clock, when the
early moon had already gone to Weep, and
a soft darkness covered valley and hill, we
went reluotantly to our rooms to prepare
for the night's resit. It was so pleasant that
it gave a guilty 'sense of wasting time to
spend it in sleep.
I had just put on my soft flannel dressing -
slack, and unpinned my hair—it is my own
hair, too—ready for Ellen, my maid, to
brush it out, when Ethel, with a light rap,
opened the ioor, and stood there for a mo-
ment, framed in the dark Wood -work, with
the dusky hall for a background, looking
" pretty as a picture."
She :had put on a long white cashmere
wrapper, let down her bright auburn hair,
which fall in curling masses to her waist, and
floated around her head like an aureole. A
wax taper; held high up in the air, threw a
bright light on the blooming face, the saucy
nue, a little turned up, and the rosy mouth;
the graceful folds of the cashmere concealed
the fact that she has "no figure to speak of,"
and altogether she looked so cunning that
my heart warmed toward her, trying as are
some of her ways.
" Come, grandma 1" Said she, gaily. "We
haven't looked for the 'man -in -the -moon'
yet." ,
This is a sportive name she used to denote
her cheerful scepticism on the subject of my
fears. She isn't afraid of anything. It don't
look well for a girl to be so courageous. In
my time girls were afraid of everything,
even a mouse ; nowadays -they dissect mice.
I caught up the poker, and Ethel, seized a
lawn -tennis racquet that had been laid
aside for repairs; Ellen, my maid, brought
up the rear of the column, armed with a
large), ivory.baelted hair -brush, and alto.
gether we had quite the air of that amusing
painting of Toby Rosenthal's, "The Semin-
ary Alarmed."
"111 tell you what I shall do, grandma,
if the 'man -in -the -moon' ever does come
down," said Ethel. "Just feel of my tri-
ceps" (or biceps), and, doubling up her arm,
she put my hand on it to feel a place as hard
as a door -knob.
She got that. going to the gymnasium,
climbing upstairs on her han is, instead of
her feet, throwing dumb -bells, just like a
boy. I don't approve of such things. In
my day girls danced the minuet.
"1 should just strike out from the shoul-
der, so 1"
And, suiting the action to the words, she
"struck out."
Away went the racquet right through the
mirror, 'shivering it into a thousand 1frag-
meats. We all stood aghast, but Ethel re-
covered herself at once. .
a I tell you, grandma,' if I Mots& do that,
it would be the last ofhim, wouldn't It?
Come, lee go on, 'and then I'll help Ellen
gather up the fragments."
Here Ethel dropped on her knees, and ex-
plored with the offending racquet every
nook and corner of the dim recess under the
bed.
" Mr. Nobody here, now," said she, got -
ting up with flushed face and tumbled hair ;
"dont say after this, grandam, that I'm
not attentive."
We then gave the closet a thorough inves-
tigation, thumped on the walls with the
poker, shook out the waterproofs, that are
certain to look as if the sleeves were stuffed
full of arms, looked in old ahoe-boxes, and
standing up in a chair, I rummaged
along a. shelf running the length of the
closet, whore I was always afraid that some
tramp would lay himself away through the
clay.
Satisfied at last, wo took up the line of
march, in and out of the winding halls, up
and down through vacant rooms, shaking
old clothes, thumping dead walls, poking
into broken boxes, and opening invaded
trunks, until we reached the last room, a
little bedroom, with a 'shelving roof, at the
end of which was a low door, leading into a
small closet, half-filled with a box of worm-
eaten books.
"Thus ended the farce," 'said Ethel,
throwing wide the little door, and—
There he was!
Low-browed, villainous, a shook of coarse
bleak hair bristling on his head, a fierce
black eye glaring out of his head, a bunch
of false keys in one hand, and a pistol in the
othnetrh.ei
entirely forgot about "striking out
from the shoulder."
As for me, the poker fell from my limp
and trembling hand, and I said—of all the
absurd things that a woman could say on
such an occation—I said, as if he were a
long -expected friend, "H -o -w. how—do you
do 7"
At this strange salutation, a grim smile
lurked round the ornate of the man's mouth,
"Rather warm in here, thank you," he
replied, with a mocking air of politeness.
" With your permission atop out."
There was an ominous click of the pistol,
and—the Mall stepped out,
"Tho newly Virgin save us 1" cried
Ellen,—she wears a French cap, but speaks
With a Dubin aeoesit,—and she forthwith
fell upon her knew!, and began to " toll her
beaTfihiga burglar wiped the drops of meat
from his ugly brow, and looked greedily at
the diamond searf-pitt which fastened my
lace kerchief.
"Don't be afraid, old lady," said he,
familiarly ; "I eho'n'ts hurt you, but I'll
trouble you for that pin,"
If it had been to SONO my life, I could not
have moved my, trembling halide; but Ethel
stepped forward to unclasp it, and, if you'll
believe me, that child was as cool as a
Deoember morning.
"iw1teId ebutar'gaSOETHRN CALITORNA.in; repn, 1o4 i andteiZ
it into hie pocket.
"Now, old lady, _your watob." That out
me to the heart, for Ethel's! grandfather had
given inc that watob for a. wedding.preeent,
It was set with pestle all around the face,
and on the beekrenamellecl in blue, was a
Oa Climate and /Resources -71m Mos St
People Who should Emigrate There.
ter le S, attegareatr,
--
forgets net, in email diarnonde. I valued As doubtless many of your readers would
it next to zriy wedding•ring, but mercy 1 in like to hvewane authentic information re.
" Rather thin," said he, but will do to
a twinkling that went too. garcling Southern California—other than its
olintate—t,heve taken the trouble during
male UP*" Dear inc would almost as 6001)
have my withered old heart melted Upthe past wk or two of gathering together
.
Now," said he, terniee to Ethel, we'll andwouicghholaportasyeint e fir egk it ri ne og taon tihne tom oy judgment
take the bureatedrawers," The resource's, geographical and railroad
Ellen was lying on the floor, where she advantages of any country form the true
had gone from devotion to insensibility, eo basis of its growth and continued peosperity,
Ethel lighted the way back to my room 1' and it b thuefore ileceesary that intending
and, if ever a woman suffered, 1 bufferedr emigrants to California, ahauld 6rat become
while this thief's costae hand's tossed about acquainted with the facts before arriving at
the cherished keepsakes of my life. , unjust and absurd conclusions regarding its
"Spoiling the Egyptiane, said he, with
clumsy wit. "And now, old lady, I'll take possibilitiee, and the advantages it offere for
that bag of twenties you got at the bank this settlers.
Lee Angeles county may be taken as a
Too true 1 I had that ery mornindraw
morning." I fair sample of the counties forming Souther('
vg n California in regard to soil, products and
s quarter's income—all in double eagles. general resources, and the facts I give in re -
How had the wretch found it out ? For lation thereto may be taken as a fair basis
moment 1 hesitated, but that ominous click 1. for the whole. The soil is principally 'sandy
and quickly the canvas bag came from its loam of great depth and as far as I can
hiding place, the middle of a long boleter,1
thatlearn ,oe
1 always slept on. The burglar count- UNSURPASSED FERTILITY.
ed it leisurely—he was in no hurry. '
"And now, little mine," said he, " I'll As an evidence of thist, three crops
have been taken off one parcel in one
trouble you to show me the family silver." year. To illustrate :—a good crop of bar-
Without a moment's hesitation, Ethel led
the wretch down the winding staircaseley can be harvested in June, succeeded
,
by a crop of corn and then a crop of pota-
through the square hall, with its dark red •
toes—all from the same field and in one
walls, into the parlor, a dim, old.fttshioned year. I am credibly informed that Ms a
room, with a great, open fireplace, in which Common occurrenraise
ce for ranchers totwo
irons. a wood -fire still smouldered on the brass , crops of field otatoes in one season, realizing
an
therefrom. $100 to $150 per ,acre. Anotht
On each side of the fireplace was au,arched
niche; one filled with the boasts of a small crop of perennial and prodigious growth is
alfalfa, which will grow in almoat every
library, and in the other hung an exquisite
copy of one of Raphael's Madonnas. kind of 'soil in Southern California, and pro -
Will you believe me ? As his eyes caught
duces from six to eight crops per year, ag-
gregating nine to t,velve tons per acre, net -
sight of the Virgin, this robber—his pockets ting to the former from $90 to $100 per acre.
full of stolen goods --made e, sign of the
cross, and muttered an Ave .Afaria. ,
It is an invaluable feed—green or dry—for
The parlor led into a long, oak -panelled horses, cattle, hogs or poultry.
. Corn is also another staple article of pro -
a crimson portiere. Two large closets
dining -room, divided through the middle by ;
duct in this part of the State, and particu-
open-
ed from it ; one, the first, for china, and the larly in this county. The crop of 1887 ag-
other for the storage of the house -linen. To gregated 2,500,000 'bushels, and it is confi-
my surprise, its was the door of this second dently expected (owing to the very generous:
rain -fall this season) that the orop of 1888
closet that Ethel opened and 'minted to a
will be about double these figures, The
black box, shoved back on the top shelf. average per acre is said to be more than the
I remembered then that a small part of the
family silver had been stored thereto be best corn lands in the Western States, ire-
,
quently reaching 125 bushels to the acre
etied'unly in case of necessity ; the rest had
been ent, by, the family who owned the
year after year in the Santa Ara and other
s
,
house,
to the Safe Deposit. valleys.
In the corner next the door was a step-
Wheat, barley and other cereal produce
also yields more to the acre in this county
ladder used for house.cleaning purposes.
S
Just as the burglar seized this, a tremendous than in the tatea east of the Rockies. In
this county in 1887 the yield of wheat was
noise, like the tramping of armed men, and
4,000,000 bushels, and of barley 2,000,000
the mad rolling ot cannon -balls, made him
- buehels, and thio year the yield will probe -
drop the ladder and cook his pistol quickly.
We thought of rescue, but the noise came bly be.greater on account of the heavy rain -
from a colony of tate in possession of the , fall' have nover se" plumper or better
neighboring attic. I looking grain in Canada than that shown
Seizing the ladder again,the burglar set here of the above kinds,
it against the shelves in te further corner. Rye, oats, hope, flax, hemp, beans, castor -
of the closet, climbed heavily to the top of beans and all other farm products will
compare quite favorably as to quality and
it, and laid his hand on the box, when,
y
presto! change! quick as lightnmg, Ethel yield more to the acre here than in any of
hut the door with a crash, turned the the counties east of the Rookies, and the
s
key, shoved the bolt, and there he
prices obtained here are also in advance of
was, a
prisoner. those secured east.
1' I've got him, grandma 1 I've got him 1" And now as regards vegetables ; and
she cried. "1 meant o gee him all
tlie• when I refer to this class I must keep well
't
time!" , within the mark, for fear some of your
The man struggled like a caged lion.readers might uncharitably suggest that I
1
Kicks and blows rained on the door, curses
"
loud and deep filled the little room ; frantic a STRETCHINGMATTERS.
poundings with his huge fists were thrown But I disclaim, in advance, any such inten-
&way on oaken planks felled in the old Bay tion. Vegetables of every description grow
State, and thoroughly seasoned by coming to prodigious size here'and the yield per
" around the Horn in '49." acre is far in excess of that attained East.
But what should we do, now 1 1 This ie especially true of beets, pumpkins,
Ellen, who, at the culmination of Ethel's squashes, water and other melons. I have
daring, had sat down on the floor, and seen some "whoppers." In a shop window,
bumped her heed, not very gently, against on Spring Street, last week, I saw a beet
the wall, now struggled to her feet, and we just taken from the ground that weighed
held a council of war. forty-eight and a half pounds. And I want
It was halfpast eleven. The night was you to distinctly understand it wasn't a
black, the streets dark; the supervisors two -footed "beat" either. It measured
had just decided, in a fit of economy, not something over four feet in length and had
to light the street -lamps for the next six reached its growth in less than two month's.
months, and our house was the only one Small fruitaand vegetables grow all the year
in the fifty -vara lot forming the square. round, if the ground is carefully cultivated
The garden was full of hiding -places, and watered. Totnatoes strawberries,
where some confederate might even then be asparagus and such frequently net the pro -
lurking ready to ponnce upon us, if we ven- ducer from $300 to $500 per acre per
tured out.annum. I am credibly informed that shel-
On the whole, it eemed best to hold our l tared spots in the canyons and along the
s
s
prisoner until morning, when we could arouse foothills produce mall early fruits and
the Chinese servants and send for help. So vegetables aggregating $1,000 per acre
we brought out the lamps and victualled the per annum. The walnuts grown here equal
garrison. Ellen made Some strong coffee the best in the world and are a very profit-
able crop, netting the producer from $200 to
over a spirit -lamp, mei we sat there all night
and waited, paying little attention to
$,_300,per acre when the trees are in full
the
fierce threats and thundering blows against mann. While the trees are growing the
the walls that emphasized the rage of our farmer can
captive.
.DERIVE A GOOD INCOME
With the first morning light, we aroused from pumpkins, squashes, &c., raised in the
Ali Lung, the cook, and having satisfied some orchard and directly under the trees.
his moon -eyed wonder, sent out for the In addition to the above products might
officers of law, who, soon had our prisoner be mentioned oranges, lemons, limes, pears,
handcuffed and caged in the county jail. peaches, plums, figs, apricots, nectarines,
You see how I find it uphill work to dia- grapes and a host of other fruits, the profits
oipline my granddaughter Ethel. I have from which are large, and the time they
told you what she answers me when I try to mature sse diversified that some orop
reprove her. But there's one comfort at ripens every month in the year, rendering
least. "That man "—I have been laughed the work of harvesting very economical.
at a great deal all my life for looking for : The menufacture of wine is also a great
him—was " caught at last." industry in this country and a very profit -
KATE VIRGINIA DARLING, in Youth's Centable one, too. The wine made here le grow-
. '
ing very popular all over the world, and
panion.
therefore the outlook for this industry is
Phonographic Spelling. I very bright.
I The raisin industry is one that is begin -
The craze about phonographic spelling is ning to assume mammoth proportions, the
pretty well played out. All sehaible men product of 1887 being 250,000 boxes, as
acknowledge that English spelling is a compared with 2,000 in 1880.
troublesome and most illogical affair. At This section of the country has an un -
the same time they feel that any change limited deposit of petroleum. The product
must come, on gradually and all but last year aggregated upwards of $2,000,000,
insensibly, mit as has been the caste in days and yet this industry may be said to be
gone past. The phonetic men are not agreed only in its infamy. Crude petroleum is
among themselves and were any phonetic now used by all the principal manufacturers
system adopted it would just add inclefin- of Los Angeles and will undoubtedly become
itch/ to the perplexity and confusion. Here the universal fuel for manufacturing on this
is a specimen of the latest proposals! ae coast, owing to its cheapness as compared
brought forward by Senator Voorhees from with coal.
Washington Territory in a bill Which ho It also offers great inducements to the
wants to put through Congress for adoption manufacturer to locate here and the diverei.
ittineanIl tthe schools under the Federal Govern. fled character of the mineral resources of the
country are such as must eventually prove
Liv for live, Vinyard for vineyard, Singl for, a great boon to both eity and country.
'tingle, Brow —bronze, Fether — feather, ; SILVIM ' GOLD ' COPPER, IRON,
Lether—leether, Jepardy — jeopardy, Le.!
pard--leoparcl,Abuv—itbove,Tung—tongue, lead, tin, borax, antimony, cool,. lime, 'mit,
Sum—some, nut—rough, Gatetttee—guar- granite and other building materials abound
antee, Cach—catch, Wich---with, Ake—ache, in the hills and valleys of this fertile land,
Buty—beauty, Rim—rhyme„, Sito—scythe, affording unlimited swipe for manufacturing
110m—bomb, Dat — debt, Cretin—en-that Industrie&
Dune—dumb, Lam—lamb, Lim—limb,Thure The geogrephfota otedation of this oity ie
—thumb, and sto on Thin—through the list superb, as demonstrated by the network of
in Webster's Unabridged, railways it poetesses, being in that rasped
Would such changes help in the slightest better supplied than any other plum on the
degree! Quite the mem. Pacific oast. It has two great tranieconthi.
Antal lines, stretohing hem WOW
and, no lees than six other Unto
With several others now builing or
proppeetive throughout the eeurtey,
blames' done at * harbor Man Pedele) ex-
ceeds in volume and aggregate more than
any other port on the °omit storeAsu rm.
oisco, and will undoubtedly bo further !it -
creased, as be (listen -1m fromB-M Padre and
Leo Angeles across the egintinents
is the shortest and has the °Wert
grades of any of the trane-coetinental lines,
And DOW for a few Agues ;—The ;teemed
valuation of Lee Angeles county in 1880 was
$15,50,3418 ; in 1885, 35,49t,027; in 1887.•
$99,410,402. The area of 8 Althorn Cali-
fornia is 57 800 equare miles; of
LOS ANGELES GOVNTir,
4,750 square eaileo. The number of across
of tillable land in the county ie 1,300,000.
The population of Southern California in
1880 was 170,000. The population of Los
Angeles county in 1880 was 33,000; in 1887,
100,000. The population of Lee Angeles
City iu 1880 was 11,000; in 1887, 70,004;
Reel estate sales for 1885 were $9 948,032;
for 1886, $28,204,750, and for 1887 over •
50,000,000. There are over three hundred
miles of railway in the county of Los Ange-
les, and fifty miles of street railway. The
county has two good harbors on the Pacifies
Ocean. The city has ten banks with up-
wards of $10,000,090 assets; four heavily
endowed universities ; eighty business in-
corporations, with an aggregate capital of
upwards of $25,00.),000; has a eplendid
electric light and water system, and, a cli-
mate unsurpassed probably in the world.
1 have been asked if I would advise per-
sons in the east to emigrate to California,
and I answered, " Yes, ' to certain ciao -
classes under certain conditions, A Cana-
dian farmer to come here with sufficient
capital to purchase land, and who exercises
judgment and thrift, will accumulate wealth
in one-half the time he can in Canada, with-
out any of the annoyances and expense of a
Canadian winter. Stock runs out the year
ronnd. But to the mechanic who is
WELL SITUATED IN GANADA
I would eay " stay there." There are plenty
of openings here for men of push and enter-
prise, it is true, but for every opening there
are about a dozen men ready to snap it up.
A man of means will here find plenty of
scope for the investment of his canital, and
if he invests right he is almost oertain of
" doubling hie pile " in a remarkably short
space of time. But "beware of the sharks,"
as a certain noted person once said to " be-
vare of de vidders."
[O'Flynn's Poultry Experience.
("Pinker in Pritirierarmer.)
A short time ago I overtook O'Flynn on
Ms way to town with a coop of poultry.
" liow-do, Flynn?" said ' Arrah, an is
that you, Brayme ?" said he.—" Where are
you taking your Banties ?" I asked.—" Ban -
ties I" he shouted. "An' is it bantiee, ye say?
Begorra, thin, do ye call that a banty ?" and
he shook a nine -pound cockerel at me.---,
" blynn, I heard that you put a new style,
ventilator in your poultry house, what is
and how does it work 7"—" Well," said he "I'
did, ure I may as well tell ye all about it, I
dug a channel two feet deepfrom the middle
o' me bin house to thirty feet beyant. Then
I put in 3 -inch tile in the bottom av it, an'
made a little ohimbley at ayther ind outen
-the same stuff. 1 gob theidee out av a papeindr -1-
an it said the air would flow in at thebei.
yasst an' get warrumed in passin' through
thepoipe, an' thin the fowls wouldn't get
their combs an' things froze, an' they'd be
leyin' eggs ivery day. I thought !it was a
mighty 901138 job, an' the firseowld spell
that came along I shut up me house, nailt
up me Mild vintilators an' pult the plug out
o' the poipe, an' went to bed. An', begob,
the first thing that flowed through that
poipe was a big mink, an' he kilt thirteen o'
me feinted fowls. The next morning I took
me ax an' I smashed thim chimbleys into
smithereens, dumped a wheelbarrer o' dirt
into the howls, opened me ould vintilators
at aytheir ind o' the house, an' moinded me
own brininess iver since. But, didn't the
owld woman give me a great rakin.1"
1 wo years ago Pat raised 230 mixed and
mongrel chickens, and when be sold them in
November they averaged four pouuds all
round. He received only five cents per
pound for them, because, as the buyer told
him, they were suoh a " scrubby " lot.
" Faith," said he, " they ()hated nse the
manest kind! They give another feller six.
oents right before me eyes, 'cause, they said
his chickens were better'n moine. I Wand'
him a chioken was a chicken the worrulde
over, an' moine, were as good as anybody's,
but they towld me I could take foive cents'
or nothin' 1"
I whispered a hint into Pat's ear, and!
after due deliberation he acted upon it. He
immediately sold off all fowls except
twenty-five of the largest and nicest hens.
Then, to the intense disgust of the "owld
woman," he drove to a poultry fancier's es-
tabliehment 12 miles distant and paid $7 for
two Brahma cocks. As a result of this reck-
less speculation he sold, last Pall, 178 chick-
ens for 0 cents per pound, which was half
a cent a pound above the regular markeb
price. His birds averaged six pounds all
round, and were such a nice lot that the
buyer actually drove out to Pat a house to
secure them. His $7 cooks brought him a
deer profit of $33.81, " Scrubby " fowls,
such as he previously raised, brought only 5 -
cents per pound ; those he raised last year
averaged two pounds more, and sold
cents per pound higher. Begorra," said
Pat, " blood tells ivory Udine, as sure as,
you're borrun 1"
Me Was Not Mad.
Mr. David Gunn nrites to the Augusta,
(Go.) Chronicle : "In this morning's issue of
your papermy attention was called to a piece
in reference to David Gunn being struck by
the fast train. As I am the'patty,and was
wholly to blame, writo this in justice of
said train. In attempting to cross the track
in advance of the fast train, I was struck by
the cowcatcher' or fender and thrown
about ten feet, but am happy to state very
slightly hurt, having been struck neer the
heel and thrown forward. /, furthermore,
was perfootly sober, and when the train
backed to see if / was hurtI was not at all
mad When I answered no, as I have an ab.,
rupt way of mpoaking. No, sir, Mr. Editor,
I followed the gallant Lee in too many hard.
fougat and hotly•contested battles with the
boys in gray, and name out all O. 11,, to let
ae small a thing as a l000mobive
iinply-
knookhxg me from the brook raise my ire."
A ptieet kt Pennsylvania has deohtred
War on bustles, but a bustle is its own fort-,
rot LI